The Seasons With You
by Lady Otori
Summary: Collection of drabbles and oneshots for Kakasaku Month 2018 over on Tumblr. Week 3 theme: Dynamics. Latest prompt: Soulmates. [Kakashi takes a second to wonder how long it would take to run to the other side of the continent.]
1. Rainstorm

When she didn't immediately run back to camp at the first sight of rain, Kakashi recognised the signs for what they were: a summons. He dropped his novel with deliberate nonchalance on top of the bedroll, a tempting distraction for the rest of the squadron while he slipped out of the makeshift hut and passed the ANBU guarding the front.

They exchanged a silent, understanding nod, raccoon mask to dog. Nobody would come looking to see where he'd went.

A short walk and then he was at the edge of the clearing, while the raindrops fell harder and harder until his silver hair was plastered against his head and rivulets ran down the outside of his mask like tears. And despite the rainstorm, she'd remained in the centre of the pool, heedless of the way the cool water churned around her in a newfound frenzy. Despite it all, Sakura stood still.

Kakashi paused, the smell of wet leaves heavy in his nose and his eyes riveted to the way her pale skin dimpled under the force of the droplets cascading from her shoulders. Against the black depths of the water and the roaring sound of the rain she was almost insignificant if not for the fiery corona of her wet-darkened hair, a red torrent running endlessly down, down, down over the planes of her back into the welcoming surface of the pool.

And then she turned, and his feet took him to the water's edge, closer and closer until he stood just an arm's length away; close enough to see the faint goosebumps spreading across her naked shoulders. Close enough to watch the breath catch in her naked breast.

"Come here." It wasn't a suggestion.

He bridged the distance in a whisper, wet clothes pressed against her cool skin even as her arms rose to pull him closer still. Then push him away as his hands rose to his mask, the soaked porcelain a leaden weight between them.

"Leave it on," she whispered, green eyes burning with an emotion he couldn't name, even if he tried.

"I want to kiss you," he replied in a murmur above the rain.

"But I don't want to be kissed."

And so they didn't. But she kissed his mask, kissed the space where his shirt met the taut skin of his neck; cold fingers twisting knots into his hair as she kissed his most secret dips and troughs while he explored her body until he found her warmest place. They left marks that were soothed by the violent kiss of the rain, a silent cartography of maps that would never be seen.

When she came it was with a hiss. They never shared words of love, or lust, or even passion when they were together but her body betrayed her as it always did with soft sighs and bitten-off moans, and if Kakashi was lucky Sakura would curse his name and if he wasn't she'd sink sharp little teeth into his neck. He hated how much he wanted both.

"I hate you," she groaned, as if reading his mind.

"Yes."

The rain beat in time with his heart as she pushed his head into the depths and he thought this was it, this was the day she'd finally make good on her threats and kill him, kill them both for falling prey to madness. But then the cold fire reignited in his veins as she pulled off his mask and pushed his head between her legs, water sliding like oil over her thighs as she moved to the rocky bank.

Blood, as he ground her perfect back into the sharp stone. She didn't care. The rain washed her clean, absolved him of this latest of many sins he'd painted upon her skin just as it cleansed him of the hurts she inflicted in turn.

When she came again, it was with a sigh. He looked up at her through dark silver strands of hair, lashes spiked with moisture and face wet with her. There was a hint of a smile around her lips, but it wasn't friendly.

On dry days, Kakashi wondered why they did this. What drove them to become people other than Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura, to move from friends and colleagues, teammates and near-family; to nameless, faceless forces who came together in quiet fury. Who hated each other, even as they moved together in a damp embrace.

But it wasn't dry, not in this quiet space in forests far from home. The sky attacked the earth with a wrath they mirrored in pleasure, and when Sakura enfolded him once more in arms that were as cool as they were soft, Kakashi surrendered himself to her enigmatic expression and let the storm sweep away the sin.

And even when the storm abated and the rain fell in calm aftermath to their conflict, they stayed that way for a long, long time.

* * *

 **AN:** Just something to work out all the knots in my head while I'm working on ongoing fics. I'll be using the prompts from bouncyirwin over on Tumblr: check them out!


	2. Road Trip

"I don't like it."

"It's not up to you."

A huff.

"I'm the team leader, it _should_ be up to me."

Sakura laughed. How could they ever have considered this man hard to read? Kakashi sat on the very edge of her beaten-down couch, grey eyes suspicious of the map she was waving encouragingly in his face. With a burst of his legendary speed, he snatched the offending pamphlet from her grasp, bringing it close to the lamp to read with a sense of defeat already etching itself into his posture.

"What's the _point_ of a journey that doesn't have a destination?"

"Well, that's kind of the point, Kakashi."

She flashed a critical eye over him before a slow, triumphant smile spread across her features. It was settled.

* * *

"What do you mean you can't come?" Sakura's voice rose into the fever pitch she reserved for when she was very, very angry with either Naruto or Sasuke or both. Right now it was both, and she felt a momentary flicker of amusement as the two most powerful ninja in the world cringed in front of her. "Don't you know how much planning I've put into this?"

She heaved a sad sigh. "Now I'll have to cancel…"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, and Sasuke looked at Naruto, and then they turned towards her in the perfect sync that frightened enemies in the field.

"Just go without us."

Sasuke shrugged in satisfaction, as if that solved the problem while Naruto still had the grace to look sheepish that he'd let her down.

"Go without you," Sakura repeated dully. "Go on a meticulously planned, reservations-at-all-the-hotels-ready, adventure-filled road trip without you."

"Kakashi-sensei will probably still come along," Naruto offered, then immediately realised it was the wrong thing to say as her green eyes narrowed and she took a threatening half-step forward.

"Go, alone, with Kakashi?" Her voice dropped to a devastating growl. "Did. You. Plan. This?"

The blush across her cheeks didn't make her any less frightening.

* * *

She'd pay to record the look on his face at their transport. Calling in all kinds of favours with the Nara clan had landed her exclusive use of two of their jealously-guarded giant deer for the trip, and though she was nervous as hell to be going alone with Kakashi, Sakura privately shuddered at how much work securing four of the beasts would have been.

They probably would have walked.

"Well?" She said instead, spreading an arm towards the docile creatures as they hovered at her shoulder, already attached to the light pink of her hair.

He didn't move closer.

"Do they bite?"

"No worse than I do."

"That's… not very reassuring."

The kunoichi stuck her tongue out cheekily at him before turning to adjust the saddlebags.

"Can't we just travel like we normally do?" There was a definite nervous edge to his voice now and she had to press her face into the animal's warm flank to hide her smirk. Or what she hoped was a smirk and not the silly, indulgent kind of smile she'd been flashing him all too often recently, if even Naruto and Sasuke had clued themselves in.

"Running at full pelt defeats the purpose of a leisurely trip, Kakashi."

"Maybe I just want to get to the hotel faster."

They shared a wide-eyed glance as she heard what he'd said just as he realised how it sounded.

"Uh…" a hand brushed the knot at the back of his head, Kakashi's favourite tell to signify his embarrassment. "Actually, I'm just a little scared."

"Me too," Sakura replied, but she didn't tell him what had her so spooked.

* * *

Saddle soreness was the worst thing to hit her backside since the time Tsunade made her lean against a wall on her heels for a whole day. By the time they reached their first hotel - a ritzy little boutique that she'd had to book months in advance - Sakura couldn't even appreciate how lovely it all looked for the persistent throbbing that defied all medical jutsu.

When they got to the reception desk and Kakashi heard how much it had all cost her, she couldn't summon the energy to stop him from cancelling the room originally meant for her alone and placing them both in the suite for three. Then he charmed the receptionist into a full refund _and_ an additional upgrade to dinner and Sakura privately felt grateful for his superior negotiation skills.

"It's so like you to make me share with our terrible twosome," the older man said somewhat waspishly as they trudged towards the room. "Personally, that sounds like the opposite of relaxation."

"It was that or all four of us in the same room."

"Infinitely preferable, honestly."

"Well, just be grateful it's only the two of us."

"Sakura!" Kakashi said, mockingly shocked. "I can't believe you'd leave out Naru-ka and Sasu-ka like that."

"And _I_ can't believe you're already best friends with those hell-beasts," she retorted, before he swung open the door to the most luxurious room she'd ever seen in her entire life, undercover missions included.

There was a brief pause while the two ninja adjusted to the world on a new axis.

"As the organiser of this whole trip, I'm taking the big bed." Sakura's voice brooked no arguments but Kakashi was nothing if not a fighter.

"And as the esteemed leader and a poor old soul with a sore back, I think you'll find it's me that's taking the big bed." He sniffed, but she'd already thrown off her shoes and leapt into the middle of the soft sheets possessively.

"I paid for the room." A tough act to follow.

"I got you money back and dinner."

She glared at him from a vast expanse of billowing white. He glared back, but she could see the hint of a smile around the corners of his eyes. The mad part of Sakura wanted to wipe it clean off his face.

"It's big enough to share…"

She succeeded.

* * *

"I'm never going back to Konoha," Kakashi drawled as he sprawled against the side of Sasu-ka… or Naru-ka. Sakura still couldn't tell which was which, even after three weeks.

"Oh, be quiet," she murmured back, lazing in the delicious feel of good company, warm sun and a pleasant meal.

"No, seriously - you've opened my eyes. Road trips are amazing. I'm never staying in one place ever again." He aimed a light kick towards the sole of her sandal, where her leg lay parallel to his across the campfire.

"Uh huh… you talk big, but as soon as the snow fell you'd come crawling back for my Konoha-special hot chocolate." There was a pause as he didn't answer immediately, and the kunoichi cracked open a hazy eye to peer at her companion.

He was levelling a deceptively light look in her direction. "I'm sure you could learn how to make it on the road."

No amount of sunshine could hide her rosy red blush. "So I'm coming with, huh?"

"Of course. Just give me time to go get my _Icha Icha_ collection then we're off into the sunset."

"That sounds awfully like an elopement."

He grinned and she could see the outline of his sharp teeth against the ever-present mask. "Doesn't it just?"

* * *

 **AN:** Haha, I don't even know. I felt like a little fluff after yesterday's angst.


	3. Stargazing

He pulled her straight through the open window of her office with two strong hands around her arms.

"You're working too much," Kakashi offered by way of explanation, voice close to her ear as he hauled her unresisting form onto the rooftop walkway. It wasn't meant to be intimate. Maybe. But still, Sakura shivered at the way his hands squeezed the bare flesh below her shoulders before dropping easily to his sides.

"I'm busy," she hissed in reply, voice quiet although this late at night there were only patients slumbering in the rooms below. "You should understand. You're busy too."

And he was. Even as he contrived to project his usual laconic attitude with an amused tilt of his head and an airily dismissive hand wave, Sakura could see the bruised skin below his eyes that spoke of nights even later than her own.

She felt a strange mix of tiredness and nerves when he didn't reply, simply smiled at her in that secretive way of his when he knew he was being deliberately difficult.

They stared at each other for just a beat too long.

"Wanna go do something more fun?"

Sakura really, really did. But that wouldn't be responsible, and she was nothing if not a creature of duty. Work wasn't a problem that would magically vanish into the night - so she shouldn't either, as much as she wanted to. Her mind was almost made up. And then...then Kakashi shifted, and the dim light from her office fell across his features, and he caught her eyes again and grinned, a real, genuine smile complete with innocent eye crinkles and a boyish curve of his lips beneath the mask.

There probably weren't many women in the ninja world who could resist him when he turned on the charm like that. Kakashi's problem was that he knew it.

Either she was more tired than she thought or she was drunk, because it watching him from just a few feet away as he smiled was suddenly the most entertaining show in the world. But as much as she wanted to tell him she'd follow him anywhere for a smile, being too eager wasn't a part of the game he seemed to be playing tonight. Sakura could read him in many of the ways that mattered (and knew it was a big part of why he enjoyed her company so much) so she just gave him an answering smile of her own.

"Alright… but I've got an _awful_ headache." That wasn't a lie. "It's not going to be noisy, is it?"

A little blatant, but she wasn't at her best. Kakashi just leaned over her again, so close that if she turned her head a fraction of an inch her lips could graze _just so_ across his temple. Bracing himself on one arm, the other snaked past dangerously close to her hip before sliding the window closed with a definitive thud.

"Depends," he said darkly. Then he tugged her forward again and Sakura forgot all about feigning indifference as she gave a startled laugh, hoping he couldn't feel the heat in her skin where they touched.

They ran in the shadows like misbehaving teenagers. Exhilarated, Sakura dreamt of stealing kisses whenever they paused in their flight, or of strong arms holding her close. No doubt someone had a handle on exactly where both of them were - it wasn't like the Hokage and his Head of Medicine could really drop off the radar - but something about the way Kakashi swung her out of sight whenever a passing ninja threatened to intrude on their route made Sakura feel like they were sneaking around.

It was equal parts the sexiest and most frustrating thing that had happened to her all year: but she thought that might be the point. Belatedly, the medic noticed with a frisson of excitement that he wasn't wearing the stuffy Hokage robes or his bulky flak jacket.

Gods, if he couldn't feel the intensity of her gaze as they raced, Sakura would personally step up his ANBU guard. A mischievous flourish and a slightly unnecessary stretch later and she was sure of it. He definitely knew.

They travelled through the quiet streets and though neither spoke a word, there was a whole conversation between them in stolen glances and subtle sighs. And when he finally slowed to a halt on the road leading up to the Hokage Monument, Sakura had to grip onto the wall to prevent herself from draping all over him.

"Want to go sit on my head?" Kakashi's voice dripped with innocence he definitely did not possess as he gestured upwards. Those dirty books really made him a master of innuendo, but he was forgetting something vital.

"Really? Isn't it big enough as it is?" She'd read them too; every single copy.

He barked a laugh, which broke some of the tension and brought back enough control that she didn't say anything crazy like _just kiss me already_ or _let me sit on your face instead, Kakashi_ or any one of the increasingly explicit pleas crowding behind her lips.

"Come on." It was almost impossible not to touch him, even as she felt the telltale prickling of exhaustion behind her eyes.

The climb was trivial enough that Sakura couldn't blame the thudding of her heart on exertion, but nevertheless she fervently hoped his super sensitive hearing hadn't given her away. No use: the hand he extended to her at the lip of the ridge paused deliberately on her wrist, fingers pressed over the still-hammering pulse.

"Out of practice?" He asked cheekily.

She flinched. Kakashi was right, just not in the way he expected. Positions of power and importance didn't leave much room for romantic rendezvous; even less so when you'd garnered a reputation for a fierce temper and had the looming presences of the world's most powerful people examining every move a suitor could make. In truth, the games she played with Kakashi - amusing diversions that never quite went far enough - had been the sum total of her amorous experiences for longer than Sakura cared to consider.

If she hadn't been so tired, it might have been funny.

Something of her thoughts must have played across her face, because her companion dropped his cheeky act and gave her what she deemed his special Team 7 smile - a barely-there little quirk of his lips that did everything from comfort to amuse to infuriate its recipients, all depending on whatever trouble Kakashi was trying to weasel out of at the time.

"There's a meteor shower tonight," he finally explained, pulling her up to stand next to him. Not for the first time, she felt the difference in their heights as he rested an arm effortlessly over her shoulders in a gesture that held none of his earlier heat. "I thought you might like to watch it."

It seemed the game was over - in that uncanny way of his, Kakashi had picked up on her unspoken melancholic shift in mood, figuring she needed a friend more than a tease in her tiredness. And he wasn't wrong… as long as he kept close.

Tonight, they'd look at the stars and sit just a little too close for friends while he talked when she wanted and was silent when she didn't. She'd quote a passage from his books from memory while he praised her to the stars they sat beneath, and when she was cold he'd edge just a little closer, then a little closer still. And then, once the stars had faded and there was nothing else left to say, Kakashi would lean in for a kiss. And Sakura would let him.

She offered him a secretive smile of her own as he lowered himself down carefully, the hard planes of his body almost, almost fitting against hers. It was enough.

For tonight.

* * *

 **AN:** I'm not too pleased with this, but I wanted to get it out of the way to work on other prompts.


	4. Professor Hatake

**Contains NSFW**

* * *

His first thought was: _the students are going to eat her alive._ His second hovered between _only if I don't get there first_ and _get your mind out of the gutter, Hatake._ Easier said than done, especially when she walked into the faculty office with the friendly approachableness that only a newly-minted professor could have.

Everything from her pristine stationery to the way she fiddled with her computer and the self-conscious way she touched her beautiful hair screamed easy target, and Kakashi was almost guilty that she'd been assigned the difficult Infectious Diseases class. Almost. It was something of a rite of passage in the department; 40 students ranging from serious medical students to opinionated forensics grads to people looking to top up their science-based credits, all in a melting pot of subject matter versus learning expectations. It had been ten years since Kakashi himself had been thrust in front of the volatile lecture hall and left to sink or swim, and every semester since he'd been grateful for the quiet dedication of his current crop of students. Rather her than him, even if she looked barely older than the postgrads she'd be teaching.

Caught in his thoughts, Kakashi missed introductions and the general chatter as his colleagues all but interrogated her on what she'd done before teaching and whether or not she'd like to join them for a drink after work. He'd tag along, if only to watch poor, hopeless Professor Ebisu test his limited arsenal of charm on their pretty new colleague. Or even better, to see how long she'd put up with Genma or Asuma's antics. Probably not very long.

Soon, she'd settled down to work while the other professors procrastinated - proving his point that she was an easy mark - and Kakashi forgot her presence until he felt a tentative hand on his shoulder.

"Excuse me…" a quiet voice said, trailing off hesitantly. He turned to find himself face to face with the the new professor and he leaned back, startled. "I'm sorry to bother you while you're busy-" and here Kakashi slid his eyes to his screen, pleasantly surprised that it was _not_ displaying his idle search for pet grooming - "but I'm having a little difficulty with accessing the student database."

The plea in her startlingly green eyes was obvious.

"It's no trouble," Kakashi replied smoothly, unable to resist a small smirk as he watched Ebisu slump in defeat out the corner of his eye. "I'll come and take a look."

Following her to the desk, it became apparent that she was quite significantly shorter than him; the height difference meant that he was staring mostly at the top of her head and its mop of beautiful, though unusual, pale pink hair. From this angle, it didn't quite hide the scar that ran almost ear to ear across the back of her head and he leaned in a little closer, curious. It didn't look as deep as the cicatrix that marred the skin of his left eye, but head wounds were always deceptive. Childhood incident? Operation? Kakashi didn't have time to muse further as she sat down and he was treated to a whirl of the scent of her shampoo.

Was that the same shampoo that he used on his _dogs?_ And then she was speaking again with a voice soft as before, and he had to lean in to hear, confused beyond belief at this pretty young woman with candy hair and a vicious scar, who was currently reminding him of traumatising bathing days and wet scowling bulldogs.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that..." he mumbled, forgetting for a moment his image as the cool and aloof Professor Hatake.

She smiled. "I said, I'm Professor Haruno - Haruno Sakura. I'm sorry if I've distracted you at a busy time."

She _was_ distracting; the sight of her small smile even more so. But Kakashi had regained his legendary composure and he crouched down beside her, taking the mouse from her hand as he flashed a megawatt smile at her over his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I'm kind of a daydreamer." He shrugged indolently, liking the way she raised a suspicious pink eyebrow. "You can call me Professor Hatake. Or Kakashi, after hours."

He winked, she blushed, and that was it. Somewhere in the background, Ebisu groaned.

* * *

Professor Haruno, Kakashi suspected, was drinking them under the table. The night had started ordinarily enough: Ebisu had flirted mercilessly with her through two courses before Genma had stepped in and drew the earnest man into another discussion, leaving Sakura to the tender mercies of Professor Mitarashi and her visceral descriptions of the latest fainting spells in her dissection seminar.

Kakashi had been mildly impressed as the young professor sat through it all with a faint but polite smile, asking just enough questions to sound interested without encouraging. Then, Kurenai had begged off early and the night might have ended there if Sakura hadn't mentioned the beginning of Happy Hour to the approval of the remaining group.

Two hours later and he was buzzed to hell while she still looked as peachy as the moment she sat down. He might have put it down to the resilience of youth if Asuma's nephew Shikamaru - a regular guest at their work nights out - hadn't discovered she was the same age as him shortly before being bundled into a taxi home for his own dignity.

"So how was class?" Kakashi asked abruptly, chin in hand and _sake_ glass finding its way laboriously to his mouth. When she turned to him with a mild frown, the silver haired man blinked at her owlishly. _Maybe she's already told us. Shit. Well, I'm asking again._ He put the glass down and gave it a disapproving glare. She was proving harder to charm than he thought - and the alcohol definitely wasn't helping.

"Like I said, it was great." Sakura's own glass lay empty before her, so with utmost concentration Kakashi tipped the cool jug of his _sake_ towards her invitingly. She accepted gracefully, sliding the jug from his unresisting hands and pouring a liberal measure. "Kurenai-san said they were a difficult bunch, but everyone was lovely."

There was a brief moment of silence before those still aware enough to listen chuckled knowingly. Sakura tipped her head enquiringly, the movement just enough to loosen a few strands of her hair. It had curled in the heat of the bar, and Kakashi was glad he hadn't taken another drink; a little bolder and he'd have spun its delicate twirls around his finger, and she wasn't anywhere _near_ receptive enough for that.

Yet (he hoped).

Instead, he distracted himself by explaining the reputation of the class to her, leaving out the part where he'd spent two weeks at exam time avoiding students in ways that ranged from ducking into buildings to literally climbing trees to throw off pursuers, and all the while Sakura registered her disbelief as everyone nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, they're really difficult," he finished lamely. "If you have any hassle with them - there's some troublemakers mixed in from a class I taught last year - don't feel like you can't come get my help. I have a bit of a reputation as a hardass."

Sakura peered at him from under pink lashes and Kakashi felt himself, unbelievably, blushing a little at the way she seemed to be sizing him up.

"A reputation, huh?" Her voice had dropped a notch and this time he couldn't help but lean just a little too close. "Don't worry," she said with a mysterious smile. "I've something of one myself."

Kakashi couldn't tear his eyes away from her for the rest of the night.

* * *

Exam season was bad enough, without this.

"One shift, Kakashi. Please." The voice on the other end of the line crackled and he resisted the urge to pretend the call had dropped. Follow the chain of command. Respect your superiors. He'd been out of the army for over 10 years but some things were too deeply ingrained to ignore; Danzou just happened to know it.

"You know it's never one shift, Danzou-sama," Kakashi replied tightly. From his perch on the edge of the desk, he noticed Sakura tense up and direct a brief but intense stare in his direction, before realising she was in his line of sight and ducking back down behind her computer screen. "If I come back, it'll be weeks." He picked up the stress ball one of his students had left after a particularly tearful visit. It felt good to squeeze: better than letting the exasperation leach into his voice.

"It's exam season. I can't leave the campus."

Silence on the other end of the line. Kakashi waited it out, teeth gritted painfully. There was a heavy sigh, one that spoke volumes in its disappointed exhalation, before Kakashi's former superior officer delivered his parting shot.

"Soldiers are dying, Major Hatake." It was a power play to use his old title. A mistake; Danzou never did understand why good men left the front.

"It's Professor Hatake these days, Danzou-sama. And I'm afraid I can't come to work for you now, and I don't think I'll be able to in future." He took a deep, steadying breath, uncaring that the suffocating presence on the other end of the phone would hear it. "Goodbye, sir." Click.

It felt good to disobey. It felt even better as Kakashi watched Sakura's face rise sheepishly from beyond her fortifications before giving him an apologetic grin. He beckoned her with a lazy quirk of his chin and eyed his closest deskmate, who seemed to be enjoying a nap. _Good enough._

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear a little," Sakura explained. She'd paused to pick him up his favourite biscuit from the coffee station - a conciliatory gesture that he wasn't above accepting. "I'm so wound up from thinking about how my students will do in their exams that I'm on hyper-alert all the time."

Kakashi nodded sagely before hooking his foot under an empty chair and dragging it towards his desk in a clear invitation. She accepted, sitting close enough that their knees touched as he slumped back down into his seat. God, he wished he'd been able to charm her into something more than friendship.

"I get it." He replied, trying to ignore the burning press of her knees against his. "You teach these kids for four months, then spend another four worrying about whether there was anything you could have said, or done, or taught to make their grades any better."

Sakura pressed her lips together in a thin line, the hands that rested easily in her lap balling into unconscious fists. Kakashi felt some of the anxiety at General Danzou's unwelcome demand drain from his mind as he watched, taking in her concern for what most professors would dismiss as a write-off class. It was familiar, centring; something to help forget the things that his former calling had asked of him.

"Pretty much," she agreed. "Does it get any easier?"

Kakashi pretended to consider.

"Wait until you need to send them off for their first residency."

Sakura grimaced. "Shit."

"Shit," he readily agreed, and they burst into laughter in tandem. Better laugh than cry - Kakashi could see she was still worried.

"The results come out in three days. Let's read them together then go get blind drunk whether they're good or bad."

She blinked at him, then reached forward and tapped a pristine painted finger into the muscle of his thigh. It was a little too high to be friendly, but he didn't dare point it out.

"Hatake… are you trying to get me to go on a date again?" Sakura's voice was teasing, so he closed his eyes and pretended to consider, index finger tapping his chin in thought as he finished his snack in one bite.

"Not after the third time. Or maybe the fourth?" She narrowed her eyes at him and he held his hands up in defeat, fingers smeared from the chocolate of her peace offering. "No, no. I'm saying let's go forget about students for an evening. Preferably with that _sake_ you like so much."

There was acceptance in her eyes, but Kakashi was nothing if not a careful hunter. "Maybe we could share stories about people named Danzou and why they haunt us?"

"You _are_ annoyed that I eavesdropped!" Sakura huffed.

"Nope, just curious. Was your Danzou a stern, commanding asshole as well? He'd need to be to make _you_ freeze at the sound of his name." Kakashi winked, enjoying the way she shot him her second best glare. _How did I ever think of her as an easy target? She'd eat me alive if I let her._

" .or. .ke." Each syllable was punctuated by the pressure of her finger digging into his thigh. _I should let her._

"So, drinks at the Academy after the results?"

"Are you _sure_ we agreed on the whole no dating thing?"

"We did."

He licked the chocolate from his fingers. She watched. And then she went with him anyway.

* * *

This time, Kakashi didn't need to suspect that Professor Haruno was drinking him under the table: he was sure of it. She'd been steadily filling his glass for a few hours - even after he'd taken to sneakily pouring it into the unfortunate plant beside his chair - while they exhausted every possible reason why one student could pass and another could fail.

Over the months they'd gone out drinking together plenty of times, but aside from the memorable occasion of his third attempt at asking her out (he'd never feel the same way about a cocktail umbrella) they were usually accompanied by a collection of their loud, obnoxious, or downright meddling colleagues. It was… nice; without Genma's smirking presence Kakashi didn't feel the need to dial up his charm, and Sakura herself was decently relaxed without the pressure to keep up with their years of in-jokes.

And there were signals; Kakashi wasn't blind, or deaf, or too drunk to recognise the way Sakura was sliding her chair closer to his. It was stark enough that he'd feel hopeful, if their banter hadn't made it abundantly clear that there was nothing beyond the vaporous promise of alcohol.

"I don't think I ever failed anything while I was in training," Sakura said dreamily, tracing a finger around the rim of her full glass. "Until I finished, and then I failed. A lot."

Kakashi paused. She didn't talk about herself much, claiming that everything they needed to know had been in her introduction. _Past was Past,_ was Sakura's way; too bad he'd been distracted by her present to learn her secrets.

"You did?" He found it hard to believe she could fail anything.

"My 'Danzou'," she replied. "I never could live up to what he expected of me. And in the field-"

"-it somehow slowly got worse," Kakashi finished. She lifted green eyes from where they were burning their displeasure into her glass and all at once he felt pinned to the bar seat with the intensity of her gaze.

"Oh you're good, Kakashi-kun." She tossed him a cheeky salute that hovered expertly between crisp and careless. The kind it took a career soldier nights of practice to perfect.

"What regiment?" He asked softly.

A bitter laugh. "I didn't even last long enough to get one. First contact, we were in a bad position, lots of medical help needed, and I just-" (fingers fisting in the fabric of her skirt) "I just focused on the soldiers in front of me, no matter whose colours they wore. And when the day was done, I took off my helmet, laid down my tools, and walked into the night."

"What then?"

She shot him a look. "Then I spent six years with _Médecins Sans Frontières_. And when I couldn't take it any more, I came here." There was a finality in her tone that told Kakashi this was all he'd be getting, but he felt lucky enough for this glimpse beyond her impenetrable armour.

They sat in silence for a moment, Kakashi digesting what she'd shared while Sakura toyed with thoughts unknown to him. _Do I share…?_ He felt the impulse to spill his whole sorry story to her, from recruit to grunt to leader, all in a trance of doing what he was told and going wherever the army took him.

"Your story's better than mine," he said instead, and was gratified to see the interest in her eyes as she swung in her stool to face him.

"Yeah?"

"Definitely." A firm nod. "At least you did something selfless. I just failed and failed until I couldn't fail any more." He smiled, bitterness balanced with a glint in his eye. "And when I couldn't take it any more, I came here."

Sakura's expression was hard to read in the shifting dimness of the bar, but he thought she looked softly amused to hear him mirroring her dismissive words. Then she was moving, too fast for how much _sake_ she'd enjoyed, and a soft hand was cupping the side of his face, a thumb tracing the ruined mess of his eye before he could pull away.

"You're a ladykiller, Professor Hatake," his companion murmured. She was very close. "First, you're roguishly handsome. And then, you're just on the right side of charming. You know just what to say. And now…"

Kakashi held his breath, unable to move away as the gentle hand holding his head tightened into a grip that would've been painful if it hadn't been for the heat of the alcohol in his blood.

"And now?" He queried, at a loss for what else to say. He didn't feel like a ladykiller.

Sakura shook her head. She didn't loosen her hold on him, and there was a frisson of excitement in Kakashi's very bones at the way her face was slowly inching closer still.

"And now…" Sakura exhaled and he couldn't tell if it was in frustration or derision, and her breath was hot on his face and tinged with their evening of fun. "Now, you're telling me you understand me."

Kakashi couldn't help but grin, the tip of his canine poking out as he tried to tell her he was discovering he'd read her wrong all along. She didn't let him.

Instead, her indignant lips crushed themselves to his in a gesture that was less of a kiss and more of a demand, swallowing his charm and his compliments and his flirting in the direct way he'd grown to crave. Sakura took what she pleased from his willing form, holding him in place with a hot hand on his cheek and a commanding presence that he obligingly acceded to.

His turn would come soon enough.

It was over almost too soon, or it might have been forever; then his world was painted in roses as Sakura pulled back and placed her forehead against his, her hair winding its way between them in unashamed curls.

Her lips were just a little red: alcohol or not, Kakashi felt he could probably die happy. And then she spoke the magic words.

"Shall we get out of here, Professor?"

* * *

Kakashi was a thousand times grateful that his hopeful streak picked the Academy bar; it was less than a hundred metres from his house, a fact Sakura noticed with a sideways smirk even as she all but threw him through the front door.

He opened his mouth to warn her about the dogs but she took it as an invitation, reaching for him with such conviction that he let her take hold in a firm embrace, her smaller frame pushed up against his like a satisfied lioness. She took the top button of his shirt in her teeth and he almost promised her the world as she popped it open with a growl, nosing her way along his exposed skin until she found her target.

It was overwhelming; he could smell the oil in her hair from a hard day's work and his sight was obscured with tempting trails of pink, while his skin burned from the feverishly hot kisses she was pressing into his collarbone.

"Sakura…" he said, trying to keep a level tone as she encouraged him into the wall of the doorway. "Sakura!" This time a little firmer.

The firecracker in his arms pulled back just enough to meet his eyes through a curtain of hair. "Yes?" She murmured, and her breath kissed his collarbone, agonisingly wet from her adoration.

"I don't want to fuck you in my doorway."

He felt rather than saw her pout.

"You don't?"

 _Oh my god, yes._

"I don't."

At that, Sakura pulled back completely, and the way she smiled up at him, half bashful and half unashamed, nearly had Kakashi taking back his words and pinning her until she was trapped between him and the wall. Instead, he slid both hands down her bare arms, delighting in the way she shook under his touch; fascinated by the almost imperceptible goosebumps that followed his hands as they took hold of hers.

"Come to bed with me," he whispered, taking careful steps backward as he kept his eyes trained on the spot where they met. They didn't speak with words as he led them to the back of his small house, but there was a conversation in the way her eager tread was halted by his deliberate pace. Or the way she wet her lips as he squeezed her hands in his, a gentle caress at odds with the tension bubbling between each back-and-forth of their steps.

Finally, Kakashi paused. Sakura stopped with him, their uneven cadence causing her to sway a little as she steadied herself. Her green eyes never left his face, but this time her chin rose defiantly as he grinned darkly at her. The challenge was there in her unfaltering stare and Kakashi rose to it, pushing his bedroom door open at the same time as he gave a sharp tug to her hands. She fell into him and he caught her effortlessly, arms snaking around her waist and travelling down, down to the tops of her thighs, pulling her up against him so intimately that he felt the gasp she gave before he heard it.

Voice rough with desire, she spoke the two words he'd wanted to hear from her rosy lips for months. She demanded, he obliged, and that was that.

* * *

Kakashi took her to his bed and learned her secrets, imprinted the touch of his fingers on her dips and curves before confirming their stories with his lips and tongue and teeth. There was too much fire in Sakura for it to be gentle; she followed each kiss with stripes of punishment down his shoulders, his back, his legs until he was a patchwork of her creation.

Over and over, she murmured his name in his ear, a whispered song that they danced to as he slicked salt-stained skin over hers. There was a wildness in the air as they fought as much as they fucked, taking from each other until there was nothing left but heavy breaths and trembling hands, until Sakura's voice was cracked from announcing her pleasure to the darkness of Kakashi's bedroom.

When they were done, he cradled the back of her head as it leaned heavily into his pillow, fingers tracing her scar in a question that she didn't answer with words but with her body, arching backwards until she met his tired embrace. _One day_ , it said - _next time._

In the morning, when she called him Professor and he threw it right back at her with a wicked grin, they made it two steps out of bed before tumbling back to taste each other all over again.

And at work, Genma made a comment while Asuma counted the bruises on Kakashi's shoulders; they listened to Ebisu try his new lines while Kurenai watched with a knowing look.

Then when everyone was distracted and they'd sat down to work, Kakashi winked, Sakura blushed, and that was that.

* * *

 **AN: I swear this wanted to become an entire story.**


	5. Soulmates

"Sakura-chan got a list!" Naruto's voice is too loud for the quiet that follows. Then, an explosion; Ino's jealous, Kiba's incredulous and Shikamaru just wants to see what it says. The ramen stand is a hive of frantic activity, teenage curiosity paired with the energy that only a bunch of trained killers can express.

Teuchi closes shop; he's curious too.

"It's on a _bill?_ " Sakura sounds annoyed. Not everyone gets a soulmate list - and she supposes it's an honour in a way - but the way it sits on the counter before her, a little greasy from the spillage caused by Naruto's excitement, kind of takes the mysterious edge away from it. Her mama's list embroidered itself on her handkerchief. _That_ was romantic. This was… comedic.

"What's it say?" Ino's barely restraining herself, but even she knows it's practically inviolable to mess around with the process of figuring out who your soulmate is. "Tell us!"

Sakura takes a breath. Then another. Then another still, until Naruto's almost blue in the face and she swears Shika's shadow tendrils have frozen her in place.

"Okay." She picks it up, and reads it. Reads it again.

"Well?" Naruto demands. "Who's loverboy?" He pauses. "It _is_ a 'he', right?" They'd already had one surprise this year.

Sakura glances down at the cheap paper in her hand, sees the 'he' written in a scrawling, messy hand, and gives a nod.

Ino can't take it any more; she's suddenly invading Sakura's private panic, leaning precariously over Naruto - who's blushing with the weight of her breasts pressing into his neck - and makes a move to grab the offending receipt from Sakura's lifeless grasp.

"I'll read it out," Sakura warns, arm raised with the merest hint of Tsunade's power in her stance.

"Wait!" Kiba holds up a hand to the annoyance of the rest, and he grins. "You gotta stand up, like. I missed TenTen's, I ain't missing _this_."

Sakura stands, but it doesn't feel like her legs will hold her unsteady weight.

"Okay," she repeats, clearing a hesitant throat. "Here's my list. Here's my soulmate's flaws."

It's as close to silent as possible in the shop; even the omnipresent sounds of bubbling noodles and simmering pork dim in the face of curiosity.

"He's alone, even when surrounded."

Naruto nods sagely; shinobi are by nature a solitary sort. It's workable.

"He's the last of his kind."

Ino's face turns scarlet and it's obvious she's come to a conclusion. Kiba and Shikamaru share a _look_.

"He won't tell you."

Hinata frowns as Sakura finishes. There's a pause while they digest this information. Sakura's soulmate sounds difficult, but not awful; they've heard of worse flaws uncovered by better people.

If anything, he sounds… depressed.

"I can't believe your soulmate is Sasuke-kun," Ino says, fighting to keep the hurt and the envy and the admiration from her tone. You don't fight with fate. She quietens as Sakura starts to cry.

"It's not." The words sound torn from her throat.

"What?" Naruto blinks a few times, before they can see the wheels turning. Then his sunshine fades a little. "No, it's not."

"What do you mean?" For all Shikamaru's genius, he's not so smart here. He doesn't have all the pieces; doesn't have the benefit of the kindred spirit that Naruto shares with her.

"It's not Sasuke-kun." Sakura moves as though to fall, but really she's crouching down in preparation. "My soulmate. It's not Sasuke."

And then she's away, a haze of petals left in her wake, settling into the grease of the shop as she goes to face destiny, fists first.

* * *

Kakashi pretends to himself that he'd guessed she was approaching right before Sakura punched him in the jaw, but in reality he was distracted by the sign outside the bookstore that promised a sale.

"Mah, Sakura-chan," he says, hand held to his cheek in surprise that's only half-faked. He's about to ask what's wrong but one look into her eyes and he knows. She _knows_. So instead, he keeps his mouth shut. It's a skill.

"Kakashi-sensei…" she growls. Flicks a look at the crowd - Konoha citizens, used to their shinobi scrapping in the streets - and puts a commanding hand on his arm. He follows where she leads, mostly in deference to the superior strength she's liberally applying, but there's a little thread of fear there, too.

He's good at pretending. He thinks. But maybe not with the people he's taught to look underneath the underneath. It's not a comforting thought.

They stop at training ground three and Kakashi wants to close his eyes at the symbolism.

"In the mood for some training?" He asks, somehow managing to inject just enough levity in his tone that it doesn't fall completely flat.

Miraculously, Sakura laughs. And then she turns around, and he's disabused of the notion that it's in pleasure.

"Is it in the book?" She asks and this time he tries incredibly hard to look surprised. Damn her brains.

"Sorry?" It's not convincing.

"Your list." There's a trembling in the earth and Kakashi doesn't need his Sharingan to see the ripples of her temper threading through the ground. "Is it in the book?"

Kakashi takes a second to wonder how long it would take to run to the other side of the continent. He's still calculating for days in the desert when she questions him again, "is that why you don't let us see it?"

"I don't let you see it," he says slowly, conciliatory, "because it's full of porn."

"Oh, it is _not."_ Now, genuine and unable to be quashed, surprise flickers across his face. There's a smile that's all teeth as she trumpets, "you think I haven't borrowed them, since Naruto came home?"

He takes a step back. She follows, and for the first time he sees the crumpled paper in her hands. Sakura follows his gaze downwards and raises a fist, thrusting it at him like a talisman.

"I'll read to you, shall I?"

"It's really quite private, Sakura-chan, you should save it for-"

"He's alone, even when surrounded." Her voice stops his protestations flat, and the shinobi feels the claws of fate sink into his shoulders, holding him in place. Sakura's had her panic; she's free to move, and takes another step towards him.

"He's the last of his kind." Now, why couldn't she think it was Sasuke?

"He won't tell you."

Kakashi blinks, confused. It was obvious that Sakura thought that her soulmate was the unfortunate soul in front of her, but it wasn't obvious _why_.

"Sounds like you need to go find Sasuke," he manages to croak.

"I know it's not Sasuke-kun," she replies, a bossy finger pressed into the fabric of his vest.

"And how are you sure?"

"Because…" and now, all at once, the fight goes out of her, and Kakashi has to play with fire as he grabs her by the arms before she sinks to the dirt. "Because Sasuke-kun told me he loved me. He _told me_ he was my soulmate."

Kakashi swallows, understanding. The laws of the list were absolute; there were no lies.

"And then, as you know, he tried to kill me."

There's a pause as they share in the sadness of Team Seven, a temporary truce from the uneasy fight simmering in the cold air.

"So, Kakashi," and the lack of title is what brings his gaze finally to hers, "will you show me the list?"

* * *

He's nervous; she can tell. It's there in the way he's frozen absolutely still, on battlefield alert, pupil wide as he just stares at her. Somehow, it makes Sakura feel a little better.

"Let's sit down," Kakashi says, defeated. He means on the ground but she hops to the posts in the centre of the field and she realises she's set him on edge, perhaps beyond it, as he slowly pushes up the band hiding his blood red secret.

"You're tall," she says in response, trying to shrug. It's too stiff to be casual, an awkward twist of her shoulders that covers the clenching of muscles.

"Okay," he breathes. "Okay." A mantra. "First things first, please understand that we have no control over where the list appears."

"Kakashi." He won't meet her eye again. " _Kakashi._ I'm holding a wet ramen receipt that shows I didn't leave a tip." Is that a hint of a grin?

He reaches into his pouch and pulls out the oldest and most beaten copy of _Icha Icha,_ his prize possession since the day they met. And now she understands his hesitancy, his fear. How long had he known? How must he have felt, confronted with a gangly almost-woman that the world whispered was his?

Then he flips to three-quarters in and Sakura feels like laughing. Jiraiya likes to follow a formula; one act build up, the second act the chase - and the third, where Kakashi's fingers have paused, the third is the only part that deserves the warnings on the jacket.

"Do you want to read it?" He asks.

"Not really," Sakura whispers. "Sweeten it for me."

He clears his throat and she's suddenly grateful for their aloneness.

"She's hiding herself, from everyone."

A frown. Was she? Could it mean-

"She forgives, but she doesn't forget." And now Sakura is opening her mouth to argue with fate itself, before Kakashi holds up a finger.

He's very solemn.

"She will destroy you."

She closes her mouth as he snaps the book shut. There's nothing that comes to mind to say; how do you respond to a statement like that? I'll try not to? I'm sorry? The options are falling short in her mind and it's a moment before Sakura realises that he's just standing there, hunched over in his lankiness.

"Have you always known it was me?" That's not quite what she wants to ask, but it's close.

"I couldn't argue with the timing," he replies without moving. "It appeared right before you nearly crushed me."

Sakura thinks back to the second bell test, the one they bested him in two years ago; her triumphant reunion with Naruto, the anxious way Kakashi let them win. It kind of made sense.

She's watching him like a hawk and she knows he can feel it; the Sharingan whirls in unease, sensing a fight, and it's a strange feeling. The only way she could destroy him would be if he let her.

But that's probably the point.

"Kakashi."

"Yes, Sakura?" He's never called her that. Then again, she's said his name alone three times now.

"Are you afraid?"

And now he shifts, just a little.

"Terrified."

"I see." Silence falls, and Sakura listens to the rustling of the trees of home. If fate hadn't felt fit to present them with a soggy receipt and a page of filth then she'd be more inclined to feel poetic; but it had, and she just felt pragmatic.

This wasn't romantic. This was… realistic.

"If I'm going to destroy you," she says, watching as Kakashi swings his head in her direction like one of his dogs, "I promise I'll be gentle about it."

He smiles. She's enchanted.

* * *

 **AN: I've actually never written anything with Soulmates before. I think I like it!**


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